According to the University, the High Bay Research Facility will contain about 90,000 square feet of high-bay and traditional laboratory space, and affiliated office and meeting areas. The research spaces will be for research into unconventional oil and gas reservoirs, part of UW’s Tier-1 Engineering Initiative, and will house the Center of Innovation for Flow in Porous Media, Improved Oil Recovery Laboratory, and Geomechanical/Petrology Laboratory. A Structures Research Laboratory also will be part of the new building.

The $53.5 million building is funded by $37.2 million in state dollars, pending final legislative action on the supplemental budget, and $16.3 million in private contributions, with an additional $9.2 million in private gifts for research equipment.